But residents and officials in the more affluent town of Pelham are bent on stopping the project.
Nearby in the somewhat more affluent town of Sparta, a number of large houses built about a decade ago on one-acre or larger lots are now being offered at reduced prices or as short sales.
In many ways, Benton Harbor is a miniature version of Detroit, albeit one improbably located along a corridor of bucolic and generally much more affluent lakefront towns.
For example, on Long Island, there have been declines in older communities of the South Shore, and increases in the more affluent North Shore towns.
"There are theories that the more affluent the town is, the more competitive the parents are, but I don't know of any scientific evidence saying that the economic makeup of a town is a factor," said Rick Wolff, a sports psychology expert from Armonk.
"As soon as I can sell the house, I'm moving away," said Mr. Alliegro, who built his two-story Cape seven years ago on Madison Street, in this area just west of a more affluent stretch of towns leading to the Hamptons.
A collection of '30s era photographs — including shots of the 1937 flood that devastated downtown and prompted development in the eastern, now more affluent, sections of town — adorns the walls, and a discreet jazz trio performs in the corner.
Moviegoers visit a theater in a new upscale development on the west side of Salinas, the more affluent side of town, in contrast to the east side, which is mostly Latino and working-class.
But while the less intrepid (and more affluent) flee to beach towns and other breezier climes, the city offers a wealth of summer diversions to those who stay put and embrace the swelter.
Taken together, the results suggest that the changes in diet, exercise and cleanliness that are typical of more affluent areas in African towns are sufficient to produce major changes in asthma over short distances and over a relatively short number of years.
